Recently in Random Thoughts Category

I'm sure I'm not the first person to stumble upon this coincidence, but after spotting the mug shot of Minnesota Twins outfielder/DH Jason Kubel (below) in today's San Bernardino Sun, I couldn't resist.

The resemblance to actor Jerry Ferrara (AKA "Turtle" from Entourage) is uncanny:

Kori Carter competed in four events at the Baseline League track finals on Friday at Claremont High School. The 12th grade phenom ran a 13.78 in the 100 hurdles, 11.76 in the 100, 41.99 in the 300 hurdles, as well as the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay team that finished second in 3:57.46. Add it up, and that's a wind-aided five minutes and five seconds during which Carter looked nothing like a 17-year-old girl.

Between races, she came back to Earth.

After winning the 300-meter hurdle event going away - Carter could have phoned Stanford with her time before Etiwanda's Jordie Munford crossed the finish line 2.58 seconds later - she leaned over a cyclone fence to chat with some friends and hug another, which probably had nothing to do with winning a race. Carter then walked back across the track to the infield. Time for an interview.

I follow her to her duffel bag, from which she retrieves a bottle of water and starts squirting all over the place, trying unsuccessfully to hit her mouth.

"I'm the klutziest hurdler," Carter says.

"That's not a good event to be klutzy in, is it?"

"That's where everything makes sense. On the track," she says. "Everything off the track doesn't make sense."

Like drinking from a water bottle, apparently.

"Can you jog?" she asks. Suddenly I'm jogging across the Claremont football field with the fifth-fastest high school girl in the state of California. We reach the 30-yard line and stop.

"Wait, is Andy jumping?" she asks, rhetorically.

We jog a little further. Carter is trying to find Andy.

"Do you still have another event today?" I ask.

"Yes, the 4-by-4."

We agree to meet up after her final race, and I reach out to shake her hand.

"I'm a hugger," says Carter, now embracing this complete stranger. She runs off - maybe to find Andy - and I scribble something down in my notebook: Kori Carter does not break a sweat after running a race.

"The Los Osos team just got DQ'd," Carter tells me. "I'm really sorry. I want to go calm them down."

I tell her to go on ahead then come back to the infield, but Carter doesn't trust herself. We have to "pinkie swear" (her idea, not mine) and she initiates an elaborate ritual in which we wrap pinkies, then touch thumbs, then release the pinkies and form a heart shape with our opposable digits.

This must be what sealed the deal for Stanford.

A few minutes later, Carter encounters a Los Osos sprinter on her way back to the infield. Amidst their friendly banter she tells him that the 100 is "too long and boring," and I have my first question.

"The 100 is the shortest race. How can it be long and boring?"

"OK, hurdles is like, 'Run-run-run, jump. Run-run-run, jump. Run-run-run, jump.' But the 100 is like run-run-run-run-run-run-run-run-run. ... I really think I have ADD."

"So do I."

The story that resulted from the rest of our interview can be read here.

Multiple sources are reporting that Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez will be suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball for testing positive for a banned substance. From SI.com:

Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance, incurring an immediate 50-game ban and serving the highest-profile reminder yet that the use of such drugs in the testing area may have been reduced, but not eradicated.

Major League Baseball plans to announce the suspension later today.

Aside from a possible Hall of Fame induction, you will probably never hear about Jeff Kent again.

The Associated Press reported last hour that the Dodgers second baseman plans to announce his retirement from baseball Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

From http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/01/14/angels.anaheim.ap/index.html:

ANAHEIM (AP) -- The city of Anaheim is dropping its legal challenges to the name of the Angels. Mayor Curt Pringle says the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to give up its battle to restore the team's name to the Anaheim Angels. The city had argued that team owner Arte Moreno violated the city-owned stadium lease agreement when he changed the name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2005. A California appeals court ruled against the city last month, and an Orange County Superior court jury sided with the team in 2006. Pringle says city leaders believe the wrong court decision was made twice, but says "it's in everybody's best interest to take no further action."

Gomez, who played briefly for the Washington Senators, managed the Padres, and later was a special assistant to the Angels' GM, died today. Apparently he never recovered from injuries sustained when he was struck by a car in March of last year.

I was up there in the Bay Area when Mike Nolan began his head coaching career. To fans and the media, Nolan immediately seemed to be confident, prepared, an upgrade over Dennis Erickson and he bore the right last name (his father, Dick, was once the team's head coach). Seeing the news of his firing today makes me think he was much more overwhelmed than he ever let on.

OK, so Cooley, the tight end for the Washington Redskins, didn't intentionally post a nude photo of himself on his blog yesterday. Really, it was an accident. Just read this post from yesterday:

All apologies from the website. We are very sorry that we showed a penis on our website all day yesterday. That was by no means our intention and we did not want to offend anyone. The picture wouldn't have been up for so long, but we were in the middle of winning a big game. Once again, this was a complete accident and we regret not reviewing the post more closely. Thanks.

Supposedly, he had posted a shot of himself reviewing game notes (in the nude). The latter detail apparently didn't catch his eye quick enough.

Insert "tight end" joke here.

Today I read this report that Sidney Crosby is living with Mario Lemieux. A couple weeks ago in Fontana, Nationwide driver Brad Keselowski told me that he lives with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kings phenom Jack Johnson lived with veteran Rob Blake last season, before Blake got traded to San Jose, bought Craig Rivet's old house and now lives down the block from my cousin.

The average sports fan isn't aware of their team's annually updated biographies, probably the most revealing pieces of propagandic literature this side of Mao's Little Red Book, known as "media guides." Provided for the local and national media members who might write/say anything about them over the course of the upcoming season, media guides range from the humorous to artistic to informative - well, they're all at least informative. Reaching around the desk here for a random one ... I see from the 2007 Sobe NoFear/Samsung/Honda Motocross media guide that "Billy Laninovich has the speed to be a Supercross champion." I guess some media guides are more informative than others.